As far asadditional prep for
track usage was concerned, all I had to do was remove the side stand and
lights. Safety-wire a few important bolts and secure the kick-start at
a secondary point. Taylor Motorsports
stepped up to the plate and gave me a ballistic nylon and Kevlar diaper
to cover the bottom of the engine up, in case of a catastrophic failure.
This thing easily holds a couple of quarts of oil (if need be) and doesn't
look too intrusive. Tech stayed happy at its presence and I stayed happy
knowing I wouldn't be oiling down any tracks in the near future.

I also tiedthe
front end together quite nicely using a Summers
Racing Components fork brace. The stock forks are light, but a tad
flimsy. The forks would flex around the left hand fork leg and caliper
on hard braking. Once I added the Summers brace the forks were as flex
free as a pair of inverted, were still light (obviously) and totally
transformed the handling in one go. Best handling mod for the money
- period.

To further enhancemy
flex-free braking abilities, I also added a Brembo radial GP master cylinder
from Frenotec to my already powerful
MotomasterUSA set-up. This
adjustable span lever offered eye popping stopping with no fade - something
that I had experienced a little with the stock master cylinder. I also
added a stock XR100 front fender instead of cutting down the stock front
for better aerodynamics (sic).

MyChron
also chippedin with
their nifty little lap-timer the MyChron light. This nicely made bit
of kit ensured that I wasn't ever going backwards with my practicing
because I could constantly monitor my progress from track arrival
through to race day. This thing helped me stay self-sufficient because
I didn't burden anyone with the task of watching my mundane lap after
lap of practice. Also this helped me adjust my lines throughout the
track and instantly see if I was faster or slower. I can't begin to
tell you how gratifying it is to run a set of laps all within a couple
of 100th's of each other all confirmed (with no lies) by this MyChron
timer… well worth the investment.

To the trackwe
went and this latest foray was an eye opener. I'd actually run out
of excuses. I had made a superb handling and very able track vehicle
equipped with pukka parts and rubber and I finally had nothing or
no one to blame but myself if my performance went pear-shaped.